Ethiopia plays pivotal role for Pak-African economic, trade integration: Envoy

Addis Ababa, September 24, 2022 (FBC) – Ethiopia plays a major role in the economic and trade integration of Pakistan in the African region, said Jemal Beker, said Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia to Pakistan.

Ethiopia has a prominent position in economic, commercial and political terms in Africa, as Pakistan has special importance due to its location, he said in his keynote address at the Interactive forum on “Ethiopia-Pakistan relations and future cooperation prospects” hosted by the Center of Pakistan and International Relations (COPAIR), based in Islamabad, under its project Digital Diplomacy in collaboration with international journal “Pakistan in the World”.

Ambassador Jemal said that Ethiopia can play its best role in connecting Pakistan with the potential market of the African region and in the same way Ethiopia can further improve economic and trade relations with Central Asian markets and China through Pakistan.

The Ambassador mentioned that at this time, African countries were developing the concept of digital diplomacy to connect themselves with the world’s trade markets, which Ethiopia is also doing a great job.

He said at present, we are moving through the digital age while there is a tough competition in the world for mutual trade and economic cooperation, recalling that the whole world is currently working on a digital economy due to which the economic and trade distance between countries is reducing.

He recollected that there were many opportunities in mutual trade of technology and agricultural products between Pakistan and Ethiopia.

The Ambassador stated Ethiopia can import rice and sugar from Pakistan; similarly there are many opportunities for Pakistan in the Ethiopian market.

He said that the construction sector, steel and chemical sectors were very important for export cooperation from Pakistan.

95% electricity in Ethiopia was generated by hydel power, the source of which is the Abay (Nile) River, he said.

The Ambassador underlined that both the countries could use their geo-strategic importance for geo-economic benefits, for which numerous opportunities would be available in future.

He went on to say that there were many similarities between the African and Asian countries which would be helpful for the improvement of mutual relations.

Jemal Beker added that coffee, tea and honey were the main exports of Ethiopia and there was a big market for it in Pakistan.

According to the Ambassador, the Embassy of Ethiopia in Pakistan is currently open, before that diplomatic relations between Pakistan and Ethiopia had started in 1950, adding that there were many investment opportunities for Pakistani investors in Ethiopia for which Special Economic Zones were very important.

Chairman COPAIR Amina Malik, meanwhile, said that this era was of digital economy through which relations between countries and regions would increase.

She said that there were vast opportunities in the field of tourism between Pakistan and Ethiopia.